The invention relates to a device for use in conjunction with a detasseling mechanism to guide certain parts of a row plant to a nipping mechanism and deflect certain other parts of the plant away from the nipping mechanism, and, in particular, this invention relates to a device for guiding tassels of corn plants into a detasseling mechanism while the leaves of the corn plant are deflected away from the detasseling mechanism.
It is essential in raising hybrid corn that the plants that are to be cross-pollinated by a second variety be detasseled so that they will receive pollen from the second variety and produce a hybrid corn. There are numerous conventional devices to accomplish this detasseling of the corn. One such device is disclosed in applicant's application Ser. No. 891,447. In order to promote the greatest growth and yield of the detasseled plant two things should occur; first, plants must be detasseled in such a manner that allows the uppermost leaves of the plant to remain unharmed, and secondly, over 99% of the tassels must be severed from the plant in any one field so that proper pollination by the second variety occurs. The percentage of severed tassels is a function of not only how well the detasseling mechanism itself works, but is also a function of the percentage of tassels that are guided into the detasseling mechanism. Therefore, what is needed in the detasseling of corn plants to assure the most economical raising of hybrid corn is a unit having a detasseling mechanism in conjunction with a tassel guide and a leaf deflecting device which functions to detassel more than 99% of the corn plants in any one field and which allows the uppermost leaves of the corn plant to remain unharmed.
One shortcoming in the prior art is that conventional devices that guide the tassels into the detasseling mechanism tend to not guide a substantial number of tassels into the detasseler. Another shortcoming is that the conventional guides, while guiding some of the tassels into the detasseling mechanism, also tend to guide the uppermost leaves of the plant into the detasseling mechanism thereby breaking these uppermost leaves away from plants and hindering the optimum growth and yield of the plant. One conventional type of guide usually consists of rods placed outwardly from the detasseling mechanism that forced all of the plant into the detasseling mechanism. Typical conventional deflectors used in conjunction with the guide consist of second pairs of rods that define a slot through which the tassel passes. If the tassel does not line up with these guide and deflector rods, the tassels are not severed and, if the leaves do line up properly, the leaves may be severed also.